Candace Foster says she was forced to strike Eugene Mallove in the head with a pipe and kick him as he lay dying in the driveway of his childhood home at 119 Salem Turnpike in Norwich.

A key witness for the prosecution, Foster took the stand Wednesday in the ongoing murder trial of her former boyfriend, Chad Schaffer, 34, of Norwich. Both are charged with murder in Mallove’s May 14, 2004, death, but she is hoping for leniency in exchange for her testimony.

She maintains Schaffer and his cousin, Mozzelle Brown, beat Mallove and returned with her to the scene so she could drive Mallove’s van and help make the incident look like a robbery.

Foster said she arrived to find Mallove facedown on the ground.

“There was blood coming out of his mouth,” she said.

“Did he say anything?” asked prosecutor Paul Narducci.

“ ‘Help me,’ ” Foster said.

“Did you?” Narducci asked.

“No,” she said.

Foster’s eyewitness account held jurors in rapt attention as she recalled the events of the night. The 4-foot 11-inch redhead, barely visible over the edge of the witness stand, was inaudible at times. She was asked numerous times to repeat her answers.

While Schaffer and Brown continued to beat Mallove, Foster said, Schaffer smacked her in the face to get her to participate.

Foster, 32, and Schaffer are Mallove’s former tenants. She said she believes Schaffer and Brown confronted Mallove after learning Mallove was cleaning out the house, tossing items left after Schaffer’s parents were evicted.

The return visit was preceded by Schaffer’s return to the home he shared with Foster at Art Space in Norwich, where he asked her to clean his bloody NBA jersey and pajama pants.

Intimidation

In the months and years following Mallove’s death, Foster claims she was too scared to go to police. Schaffer had on occasion hit and strangled her when she threatened to go to police, she said. She said she was also worried the two children she had with Schaffer would be taken away.

But in 2009, one of Foster’s closest friends and former roommate, Jill Sebastian, said her conscience had gotten to her. She started talking to police. Sebastian, who lived with Foster and Schaffer at Art Space, testified that she had an idea of what happened to Mallove.

Assistant State’s Attorney Thomas DeLillo asked why it took her so long to come forward.

“I started thinking I wanted to right my wrong,” Sebastian said. “It was wrong of me not to come forward in 2004. I was scared.”

Sebastian, at times in tears, recalled the billboard with Mallove’s face, the plea for help in solving his killing and the posted $50,000 reward.

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“He looked just like my stepfather,” Sebastian said.

She says she will make no claim to the $50,000 reward offered.

Both Foster and Sebastian, along with their children and Sebastian’s boyfriend, Keishon Dullivan, were placed into a witness protection program as police mined them for information and evidence. Dullivan is expected to testify that Schaffer told him about the beating.

After months of talking to police and lying about her participation in Mallove’s death, Foster said she had had enough.

“I was tired,” Foster testified. “I just wanted to get it over and done with. I just wanted to tell the truth.”

Defense attorney Bruce McIntyre has argued that Foster is a habitual liar. Schaffer, who will have an opportunity to testify, said he played a minor role and that Brown carried out the beating.